Top Cars

Hyundai has big plans for its luxury Genesis sedan, and the Korean automaker is willing to pony up $80m to get the word out. Rich appointments, rear-wheel-drive, a choice of powerful engines, and a starting price of $30k is a good story to sell customers on, and the Genesis sedan is being looked at as the halo car in Hyundai's lineup. That helps justify spending the most launch money on any Hyundai ever, even though only 30,000 Genesis sedans are scheduled to be sold per year. Genesis marketing begins with a 15-city tour involving about 100 sedans, and will include television ads plus the Internet and plenty of viral events.

We're very anxious to see if Hyundai can deliver a legitimate Lexus GS competitor for over $10,000 less, and if the Genesis is as good as advertised, the $80m will be money well spent